Uber’s PR Woes Grow on Sexual Harassment Settlement
Uber seems to be fighting fires on all sides, with the latest sparked by a years-long internal probe into sexism and sexual harassment that continues to drag the company’s reputation through the mud. Now, Uber has agreed to establish a $4.4 million fund to settle charges it fostered the environment from which those allegations emerged.
According to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the ride-hailing company permitted a “culture of sexual harassment and retaliation against individuals who complained about such harassment.”
The new settlement fund will compensate female employees found to have experience harassment or retaliation while under Uber’s employ. In the wake of the #MeToo movement, EEOC’s focus on harassment and retaliation cases has been a crisis point for Uber.
“This agreement holds Uber accountable, and, going forward, positions the company to innovate and transform the tech industry by modeling effective measures against sexual harassment and retaliation,” EEOC Commissioner Victoria Lipnic declared in a statement.
For many, Uber’s concession is long-overdue. As the internal probe was being conducted, Uber’s chief human resources officer Liane Hornsey could only offer that the company’s treatment of women was “no worse” than that of its rivals.
In addition to sexual harassment allegations, Uber is also battling with a Google parent Alphabet lawsuit alleging that Uber stole driverless car technology.
In the latter case, controversial self-driving car engineer Anthony Levandowski was charged by federal prosecutors with theft and attempted theft of trade secrets. According to Alphabet, Levandowski stole 14,000 documents from Google, including proprietary information about self-driving cars, and downloaded them onto his personal laptop. He then went on to found Otto, a self-driving truck startup, which was soon acquired by Uber for close to $700 million.
In truth, Uber’s image has been under fire for years now. For one thing, there was a major public backlash to the company’s initial response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s immigration ban in 2017, with many users deleting the app in protest. Next, there was a dashcam video of then-CEO Travis Kalanick hurling abuse at a driver who was unhappy with pay changes. Kalanick has since promised to get “leadership help.”
It doesn’t seem as if he’s learnt his lesson: Kalanick’s behaviour, considered “frat-like” by more than a few commentators, has again been in the headlines in recent weeks. Following the Nov. 6 expiry of Uber’s share lock-up, the founder and former-CEO has commenced a veritable fire sale of his Uber shares, selling off more than 90% of his stake in six weeks.
If Kalanick keeps up his selling at this rate, he might no longer own any Uber shares by the end of next week. At the same time, Uber is reportedly set to sell its Indian UberEats business to local rival Zomato, despite the company’s previous claims that India is a key market for Uber’s future growth.
Amid the ongoing PR kerfuffle, there is only one real question to be asked: is anyone still hoping to ride Uber’s success into 2020?
Ronn Torossian is the CEO and Founder of 5W Public Relations. 5W PR is a leading digital pr and influencer marketing agency.
